Long Beach Harbor buzzing with Alberto preps

Folks were out Friday at Long Beach Harbor making preparations for Alberto's expected arrival in South Mississippi. (Photo source: WLOX)

LONG BEACH, MS (WLOX) -

In Long Beach, residents have been filling sandbags since Thursday. A day later, folks at Long Beach Harbor are aware of Alberto's threat to the Coast.

Roy Ridgeway had a day trip adventure planned for some time. So he took his daughter and grandkids, who are here from Stuttgart, Germany, on their first boating excursion before the weather goes downhill.

"We thought we'd go out and see if there's enough wind to put the sails up and sail a little bit," Ridgeway said optimistically. "If we have to move the boat to a safe place then we'll have to move it out of the marina."

A few slips down from Ridgeway is Micah Sanders and his charter boat business called "Fishing Frenzy." Several of his charters planned for this weekend are in jeopardy thanks to Alberto.

"If they call the mandatory evacuation, we've got to pull the boat out of the water," Sanders said. "The big boat we'll have to take it to the hurricane hole, and I have to cancel our trips. I think I've got eight trips booked in the next few days, and I'm probably going have to cancel about half of them."

Meanwhile, as other Long Beach residents continue storm preps, Mayor George Bass and his team are monitoring Alberto's progress.

"It's a watch and plot situation," Bass said. "That's what we're doing now. Every day we get more information given to us."